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In Argentina, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) caused by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC-HUS) infection is endemic, and reliable data about prevalence and risk factors have been available since 2000. However, information about STEC-associated bloody diarrhea (BD) is limited. A prospective study was performed during the period October 2018-June 2019 in seven tertiary-hospitals and 18 referral units from different regions, aiming to determine (i) the frequency of STEC-positive BD cases in 714 children aged 1-9 years of age and (ii) the rate of progression of bloody diarrhea to HUS. The number and regional distribution of STEC-HUS cases in the same hospitals and during the same period were also assessed. Twenty-nine (4.1%) of the BD patients were STEC-positive, as determined by the Shiga Toxin Quik Chek (STQC) test and/or the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) assay. The highest frequencies were found in the Southern region (Neuquén, 8.7%; Bahía Blanca, 7.9%), in children between 12 and 23 month of age (8.8%), during summertime. Four (13.8%) cases progressed to HUS, three to nine days after diarrhea onset. Twenty-seven STEC-HUS in children under 5 years of age (77.8%) were enrolled, 51.9% were female; 44% were Stx-positive by STQC and all by mPCR. The most common serotypes were O157:H7 and O145:H28 and the prevalent genotypes, both among BD and HUS cases, were stx 2a -only or -associated. Considering the endemic behavior of HUS and its high incidence, these data show that the rate of STEC-positive cases is low among BD patients. However, the early recognition of STEC-positive cases is important for patient monitoring and initiation of supportive treatment., (Copyright © 2023 Asociación Argentina de Microbiología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Studies are increasingly recognizing health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as a key pediatric outcome in both clinical and research settings and an essential health outcome measure to assess the effectiveness of medical treatment. However, it has not yet been studied among the healthy siblings of kidney transplant recipients. The aim of this study, therefore, is to examine HRQOL among this population. We asked the following three groups to complete a validated measure of HRQOL among children (KIDSCREEN-52): siblings of children who had received kidney transplants (n = 50), kidney transplant recipients (n = 43), and a healthy control group (n = 84). We found that siblings of kidney transplant patients exhibited lower scores for financial resources and autonomy than kidney transplant recipients. They also served lower on physical well-being, financial resources, autonomy, and parent relations/home life than the control group. However, they scored higher on social acceptance than kidney transplant recipients. Our study underscores the importance of assessing HRQOL in families including a child diagnosed with a chronic illness. Siblings require social and psychological support to promote coping and adaptation., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)